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I have tried to write this post three times now. I don’t think this one will be any better but I promised myself not to erase it. I am moving blogs. I will now be located at The Snail’s Life. Be sure to change your browser’s and re-subscribe to the new location. I will keep this blog active and periodically check in on it.

I am excited about my new blog but it feels kinda sad leaving this blog. All my friends are here. I do hope that you will follow me over to blogger. Please stop by the new blog and say hello. I feel like I moved into a new house with a new neighborhood. :(

1. Everyone is super quiet and I gasp extra loud. This Sunday the pastor challenged our community to be still for five minutes each day (no ipod..complete silence). What made me gasp was when he mentioned he wanted to gradually get to an hour of silence!

2. I used the force. When our church prays for people we stretch out our hands toward the people we are praying for. Every time I do this I feel like I am using the force (maybe I am).

3. Responded to a rhetorical question. Yup, that would be me, the one is the middle raising her hand admitting to lying this week. Glad to know you.

4. Laughed extremely loud at a mildly funny joke. It was a play on words I couldn’t help it.

5. Picture this everyone is seated. It is super quiet. Mr. Snail and I walk in late. I trip (in front of everyone). Everyone “acts like they didn’t see it”. I laugh at myself. It is still quiet.

Every family has that one crazy aunt….glad to be of service.

I thought that it would be kinda fun to take a self portrait of me being domestic. That word domestic always makes me think of cows…random thought. Anyway, it took me a few hours to think of something fun and available (I couldn’t milk the cows because I don’t have any). This is what I came up with.

That screams domestic doesn’t it? I think so. I mean I can’t get more angelic than reading a Better Homes and Gardens magazine and snacking on Nutella. Let me, let you in on a little insider knowledge that isn’t the store size Nutella. Oh no dear friends! That is the extra huge, I’m sharing with 30 of my closest friends size, except I don’t share with others unless I really like you or I am related to you and thereby obligated to keep relational peace.

So that’s me being domestic, greedily eating Nutella from the jar with my hands and reading.

This picture is about 6 years old. I found it today as I was cleaning out some junk drawers. I looked at myself and thought what advice would I give myself if I could blast to the past. This is my advice:

Be courageous…wimpy doesn’t become you.

Your not fat eat the cake don’t count the calories.

Enjoy the moment things happen so fast and then they are gone.

Don’t take your self too serious you born to be silly.

Whatever the season of life you are in, thrive in that season. Don’t just get by.

Give people second chances and thirds and fourths (keep counting) they are a student at life too.

Give grace

Be creative. Don’t be afraid. Art is for you…an expression of you

Your husband is your best friend for life so play nicely

Give people high fives whenever you can (it makes them feel better).

Make friends with the butcher. He knows how to cook meat and he usually has some recipes up his sleeve.

Read your book .There will be time to clean and get groceries. You only have your “good eyes” for a little while.

Make every action count.

Don’t read bad books…seriously life is too short for that nonsense.

Don’t be afraid to say no thank you, but always do so with a smile and a compliment.

Laugh at yourself and other cute things you see along the way.

Being alone feels strange at first, but being in your own company is the place that you find yourself.

Do the best work you can whether it be at school, work, or volunteering. Never give anyone work that isn’t your best.

So we stood there facing each other, nothing but a jar of Nutella separating me and my dear friend. We had both just devoured two enormous chicken fajita roll ups. She asked “so do you think we have enough room for dessert?” Honestly, it was a valid question. You should have seen the size of those fajitas (Goliath would have been full). We both looked at the Nutella for a few seconds. We smiled at each other, and opened the lid.

My friend whipped out her ipad faster than I could blink, and before I knew it we were making the most delicious Nutella cake. The Novice House Wife is just plain incredible. I owe my foodie bliss to her. She posted a recipe entitled “The Most Dangerous Chocolate Cake Just For One”. I should have known from the title that it was going to be great. A recipe for one, with just a couple ingredients and cooks in 3 minutes. Life, my friends, is so unexpectedly pleasant.

*Disclaimer: I am not much of a chocolate person. I don’t detest chocolate but I don’t dream in chocolate either.

This recipe may have changed my mind about chocolate. It was so moist and soft and delicious. My brilliant Nutella loving friend sliced up strawberries and “twinkled” it on top of this mighty cup of happiness. Let me just tell you….some things are just meant for each other, like strawberries and Nutella.

I took a chance in 2010 and attempted to grow my first garden. You can read more about it here if you are interested. I had a large piece of unused “dirt” in our backyard and I thought it would be the perfect place for a garden. What I soon discovered was that it wasn’t a patch of dirt at all but a hidden marsh! Although, I did yield a small crop that year (I rejoiced over the few chilies I grew). I knew I was hot stuff after that first garden. I am human, hear me garden!

The next year I decided to that it was time to get rid of the muddy backyard and try something different. My husband and I both decided that concrete would be the best alternative to mud. We spent most of the summer treating the ground behind the brick wall getting it ready for my garden.

I started all of our plants from seedlings. Click here for more on that. I was extremely proud when we put these little guys in their new home and they just took off and started producing fruit. Oh the joy! Then the wind came and that was a sad day.

I think I sat there and cried for at least 15 minutes. I was just devastated. Thanks to a comment from one of my readers who suggested that I continue to care for my garden and not be discouraged from the set back, my garden came back to life and produced double the crop that I had the year before.

To be honest this year is starting off kinda unmotivated. I started off with good intentions to start all my plants from seedlings (in January) but that’s about the same time that we adopted Darcy and most of my attention went to her. My seedlings didn’t last very long…I was disappointed but nothing that can’t be fixed. I went to the farmer’s market and met a really passionate gardener who got me started with pineapple mint and chocolate mint and gave me advice for the few seedlings that made it to “transplant day”. This year my garden is a hybrid of seedlings grown from seed and plants I bought from the farmers market (technically he grew them from seed).

I will keep you posted on my gardening adventures as I am sure there will be some interesting stories to tell (there always are) and some interesting bugs to photograph (they totally creep me out…especially the tomato bugs).